Damkier's Travels: Two Parks in San Francisco

Ocean Beach in San Francisco

It was the best of weather, it was the worst of weather. Yes, this is Tale of Two Parks in San Francisco - Golden Gate Park and AT&T Park. Both parks are very popular, but for different reasons. On a sunny Saturday, I had the opportunity to visit both in one day. Living in Sacramento makes it a small journey to travel to the City, so I try to cram in as much tourist time as possible in each visit. BART is a fun, easy, and cheap way to enter San Francisco, and MUNI does a decent job of carting you around town.

Mixed Salumi Cone from Boccalone

Right next to the Embarcadero BART Station is the Ferry Building. Not only is this the main terminal for all the bay ferries, they house a wonderful selection of local, artisanal food purveyors and a Saturday Farmers Market. Ideally, everyone should arrive in San Francisco by ferry, like millions of past visitors, but limited schedules can make a night game a little tough. The building and market are justifiably popular on Saturdays, and the delicious food is only topped by the excellent people watching as the City heads to shop.

Japanese Tea Garden Pagoda & Waterfall

There are many things to do in Golden Gate Park, and I have done most of them. The park itself is very long, stretching several miles all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Nestled near the museums is the Japanese Tea Garden. San Francisco has a strong Japanese influence, and the garden showcases this heritage. They serve tea, of course, and have a small, but intricately ornate garden compete with Zen Gardens, waterfalls, and pagodas. It is a little pricy, but worth a trip once in a while.

Bison Paddock at Golden Gate Park

Near the ocean side of Golden Gate Park lies the Bison Paddock. This fenced area contains a herd of bison. The park originally had a menagerie with several areas with wild and unique animals, but the Bison Paddock survived and provides an interesting vista in a coastal California park. Notice that the sky quickly turned from sunny to foggy with just a short walk towards the ocean. At the end lies Ocean Beach and several interesting windmills. It is very tough to walk the entire length of the park; I recommend taking it in small chunks to prevent having tired feet too early in your day!

Skydiver with Championship Rings landing at AT&T Park

It was finally time for my true reason to visit San Francisco. The San Francisco Giants once again won the World Series in 2014, and this Saturday game was the distribution of the championship rings to the players. This is a highly coveted game with players wearing special gold jerseys and tickets only available by lottery. I won the opportunity and donned my special 2010 gold jersey to attend the game. The place was completely packed with long lines to enter, buy food and beer, and pretty much everything else in the park. But...

Everyone in attendance received a replica 2014 championship ring! I finally have a ring to add to my collection of free Giants stuff. The Giants even won the game in stellar fashion, scoring 4 runs including a 2-run home run by Brandon Crawford and a great broken-bat RBI from my personal favorite, Buster Posey. Traffic sucked, lines were long, and I had a great time! Please enjoy my pictures below.